Standing my Ground

by Sherryll
(Forney, TX.)

91-year old only child mother is in skilled nursing facility due to dementia and inability to walk alone. Second time in 2 years. Three hospitalizations in 2 years. It is expected of me to take care of her if she gets released. I am a polio survivor and have had 2 compression fractures in my lower back. Brother is not expected to do anything...not even visit.

I am 65 and do my best to stay healthy, just retired after working for 40+ years and want to travel some while I am still able to walk.I have dug in my heels and am just refusing to take on 24/7 care. The guilt is terrible but I feel like it is just a matter of survival.

Comments for Standing my Ground

I was in all of your places. Although her brain had deteriorated to almost nothing, my 90-year-old mother was still able to intimidate me and refused to go anywhere but her own home.

She was a difficult person when she had her wits; it only got worse when she lost them. I'm an only child and I saw to needs the best I could, but I refused to let her live with me or move into her house.

She called me at least 7-8 times a day, and a couple of times, as many as 20. I still jump when a phone rings near me. I drove back and forth to her house almost every day, sometimes twice a day. I was a physical and emotional wreck.

Then in late March 2017, she lost her balance, crashed into a wall at home, and broke her arm high up, near her shoulder. That was the inciting event the medical professionals had told me would finally get her into a facility.

She was in the hospital for about 3-4 weeks while I ran around like a crazy person, trying to find a decent memory care place for her. I moved her into a facility in late April. She died the third week of July. My sweet dog, a Great Pyrenees my mother loved, died two weeks later. I swear she took the dog with her.

This is a miserable job and it will consume you if you don't get a break. Don't feel guilty. I know we have all done the best we could with a responsibility that no one can imagine who hasn't been in our shoes.

Now here I am in December of 2017. I'm 66 and I don't miss my mother, and I never really grieved. I just feel an enormous sense of relief. I loved her but those last five years changed our relationship permanently.

Rating

Me, Too!by: Anonymous

My mother is 93, cannot walk anymore, and her mind and body are declining fast. I live 2,000 miles away. I'm 66, and have a 71-year-old husband and a grown child here in town, plus another in Australia (for now).

My mother, being of sound mind, (according to her doctor) refused even home health care until recently. Now that that is in place, the NEIGHBORS, who have been helping her out from time to time, have been calling me saying they cant do it anymore, there are strangers coming and going from her house (her caregivers), and that I need to go back and provide 24/7 care. Baloney!!

My relationship with my mom has not been storybook ideal to begin with. I do what I can, from a distance, and visit occasionally, but NO to being primary caregiver. (Make room for me in the guilt room). I feel ya'

Rating

Good!by: Anonymous

The guilt seems to be unavoidable but stand fast! I'm about to finally put my 90-year-old mother in memory care due to dementia. I did the best I could to let her stay home as long as possible.

Last week she broke her arm and now MUST go, but even at that, I'm lying to her about the extent of what's going on, lest she have a fit and refuse.

Even the hospitalist told me he knew I'd had a hard time of it. I said I didn't know if moving her would be easier for me, or just different. He suggested the latter.

I'm 65 too, and although my health is pretty good, I want to be able to do a few things while I still can. So yes, stand your ground and live your life. We don't know how much good time we still have left to us.